Chapter Sixteen: A Lecture in Literature

Mr. Colbie Reynold, an English teacher in the State of New York, was giving a lecture on the philosophy of language, including the concepts of different interpretations employed in the scrutiny of the many works of fiction, novels, epics, poems, and other written forms of art.

No, Mr. Reynold was not in the future nor the past. He is in the current time, in the year of our Lord, and in the present-day version of the United States of America. The problem in this particular scene is not the time line (or other time travellers), but an academic endeavor that his students will face during the administration of the examinations for the SATs later that year.

"Literature is a form of human expression that allows the writer to communicate what he thought about the world, by sharing his own perception of reality, while taking or giving criticisms to social problems to make it more obvious, so that the reader will become more aware of the conditions that surround his existence."

The class was busy scribbling notes while the lecture continues.

"Often times, the writer notes or emphasizes the sufferings experienced in the human condition by making it prominent to evoke emotions of sympathy from the reader. A skillful author can weave his ideas in a literary work that aims to entertain, although making it principally entertaining may lose its proposed moral content since the reader will lose the point when his attention was focused too much 'on the commercial appeal' rather than the actual symbolic message of the prose."

"Literature, in this sense, becomes a medium of diverse expressions that appeal to several, differently-abled faculties and the interpretation of the mind in its capacity to understand, and to decode several artistic techniques, including what was pretty obvious."

"So, what is the role of the writer at this juncture? Is it to write his own set of devoted words to explain his thoughts into a philosophical underpinnings of the required rhetoric? Of styles and the beauty of the printed poem? Will an illustration help in digesting its contents?"

The class went silent and still. Mr. Reynold continues.

"In writing about the human condition, an author must comply with pre-existing norms by sticking to the demands of current practice, while allowing him to slowly carve his own path and, maybe, one day, create his own literary movement. Some consider this as a rebellion from the current social thinking that ultimately will benefit from a solemn revolution, of the writer, and his personal crusade that the reader may also find meritorious."

"There are many artistic movements that surfaced throughout history. And while some of them are still used in contemporary expression, most of these hard-and-fast rules have simply vanished, if not improved by natural selection."

x--------x

This Chapter is sponsored by Nike, Inc.

Comments

Chapter Sixty Two: The Fable Beneath the Enclosure of Minneapolis

Just as the enclosure called Planet Earth has a wealth of story and narrative to tell, waiting to be discovered by an "anointed one," like a true seer as some might allege at this point of comparative instance; just as a person's mind is littered with all kinds of thoughts and a wide array of options for the rational soul to decide, the newly created enclosures of the so-called New World of America are also full of fables and tales that merit intellectual attention and the discerning eye for a much open sense of literary appreciation. This comes as history is desperately trying to keep the balance of the continuous unveiling of universal timeline, as well as the many periods in the past, and that which holds the valuable lessons that came, primarily, from the victorious strategic demeanor that led to triumph, as well as the several notable failures of the wars that led to the development of military tactics, and the peripheral analysis of political and mercantile powers,...

Chapter Sixty Eight: Paintings and Frames

It was a massive painting hanging gloriously in the living room of the well-appointed mansion. The frame enclosing it was as beautiful as the painting itself; artists would generally refer to its subject as "surrealism" and its caliber is similar to the merit and style attributed to the great painter and surrealist René Magritte. The artwork itself is titled "Lucifer's Refuge," (a name that is already revealing) and the market price for this rare masterpiece has been presently valued at €75 Million, a rigorous thought concept of the re-imaginings of Lucifer's plight in his spiritual struggle, although the original painter who actually created the painting in water color was silent about the inspiration of the work. Many of those valuators (some are even respected professors of History of Art themselves) who were fortunate enough to make a perusal of the said artistic piece had one thing in common to say: that the strokes were impeccable and gentle in its ap...

Chapter Fifty Two: Enclosed

I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and where all your yesteryears are buried deep, leave it amyway except a slow way, (instead) leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour because it is dead. Passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance. Beryl Markham, West with the Night Renew, release, let it go. Yesterday's gone. There's nothing you can do to bring it back. You can't "should've" done something. You can only DO something. Renew yourself. Release that attachment. Today is the new day! Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience It's not much of a tail, but I'm sort of attached to it. A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh I've been doing this a long time --manipulating people to get my way. That's why you think you love me. Because I've...

Search This Blog